Tony Evans - Marriage Matters

2010, 2014 by
ANTHONY T. EVANS

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Edited by Christopher Reese
Interior design: Ragont Design
Cover design: John Hamilton Design
Cover image: iStock #3351926

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evans, Tony, 1949
Marriage matters / Tony Evans.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-8024-1154-9
1. Spouses--Religious life. 2. Marriage--Religious aspects--Christianity.
I. Title.
BV4596.M3E92 2010
241.63--dc22

2010007623

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I n our society today, many of our families are crumbling. Many of our marriages are falling apart. Roughly 50 percent of all marriages in Americawhether Christian or non-Christianend in divorce. Most of the other 50 percent who stay together do so for the children, financial reasons, or conveniencenot necessarily because they have a thriving, loving home.

Because of this, the majority of them are spending their time reacting to issues rather than proactively building a strong foundation for marriage.

As a result, we are facing a family crisis in our world. Around 35 percent of all of our children today in our nation are being raised in a fatherless home. If you are an African-American, that number increases to approximately 67 percent. As we are witnessing throughout our land, you cant sustain a community or a nation where the men are nowhere to be found.

We are living in a chaotic culture where even the very definition of what it means to be a family has been altered. The media has its various definitions of family. The culture has its own definitions. And now the culture is pushing to legalize the redefinition of marriage as well. One of the great tragedies of all of this is that children will be raised to believe that this redefinition is acceptable and normal.

To clarify, heterosexual marriage is not merely a Christian institution. Marriage was an institution created by God for the purpose, prosperity, protection, and propagation of civilization.

In fact, the disintegration of the family is the single most devastating internal issue facing our nation in general and our communities in particular.

The Brookings Institution is one of Washington, DCs oldest think tanks focusing on the areas of economics, governance, and development, among other things. The Brookingss findings discovered that roughly $229 billion in welfare expenses delivered from 1970 through 1996 were directly tied to the deterioration of the previously established institution of marriage, which in turn led to a dramatic increase in societal upheaval through the increase of single-parent homes, poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, criminal activity, high school dropouts, and incarceration rates.

Families, and the consequences attached to them, touch every area of society. Their strengths and weaknesses, to a large degree, determine the strengths and weaknesses of churches and communities. If there is weak male leadership in the home, the same will be true in the church. If a mother prioritizes the ease of escape into outside employment over the tedious tending to her children and home or simply prioritizes her career over family, then children will learn to look for ways to avoid difficult responsibilities when they become adults. If children are rebellious in the home, the same will apply in schools and on the streets.

When a father abandons his family, a son learns that this is an option for him in the future, and a daughter learns to fear a similar desertion by the man she marries.

But until we remind our nation and ourselves that marriage truly matters, no number of programs, government grants, or elections will be able to repair the breakdown in our cultural walls.

Strong families hold the key to a strong society, while conversely, weak families lead to a weak society. This is so because every other institution in society is predicated on and dependent upon strong families. And you cant have strong families without God as the centerpiece of the marriage union that ties that family together.

No wonder Satan didnt bother Adam until he got married. Satan knew that in order to shut down Gods program of expanding His kingdom on earth, he would have to destroy the institution at the foundation of that programnamely, the family.

As Christians, we need to make sure our marriages are built on the firm foundation of Christ the solid rock if we hope to maximize both our personal and collective callings.

Only when we return to Gods design and purpose for marriage will we return to Gods blessings through the institution of the family. When we return to God and align our marriages under Him, we will experience the peace, purpose, and provision He intended. Marriage is the foundation of the family, and family is the foundation of society. The saga of a nation is the saga of its families written large.